Even though he purchased PRIDE earlier this year, White insinuated the Japanese-based promotion is essentially history. White said the PRIDE brand was "tainted," referring to the alleged mob involvement of its previous ownership group that cost the promotion its television outlet in Japan.

"(The Japanese) don't want another (mixed martial arts) organization over there," White said. "That company was in trouble. We went in and bought it out with every intention of keeping PRIDE alive. (Japan) is a very tricky place to do business.

"The problem is PRIDE was never a big company in the United States and I'm not going to drop another $44 million to try and straighten it out. We kept running the Japanese offices over there and it didn't work out."

While such an investment seems frivolous on the surface, UFC's purchase of PRIDE allowed White to pick and choose which competitors he wanted to re-sign and essentially kept those fighters off the market from other promoters looking to gain a foothold in the MMA world. Two of PRIDE's biggest stars ��" Dan Henderson and Quinton "Rampage" Jackson ��" will headline UFC's next major show September 8 in London, England.

The UFC buying pride must have been the greatest day ever for hardcore pride fans. They finally had a scapegoat to blame for pride's collapse instead of having to admit that it was driven into the ground by DSE.

seeing how the universal MMA rules were going to be integrated into PRIDE anyway, i agree to a degree

however, the PRIDE name/banner carries a lot of weight and has a legacy that should live on. also, the ring, the entertainment factor, the PRIDE fans, etc. are irreplaceable

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that's what I miss the most. I have a buddy who couldn't believe how epic the opening introductions were and how big their stages when we watched Final Conflict 2003 a few weeks ago. "UFC was nothing like that when I went" is what he said, I said "Yeah, this is how it's done the right way"
:hsr:

Pride banner "carrying weight" and etc etc will fade quickly. It's the ring entrances and the "show" that will be missed. At the end of the day - we'll NEVER see that kind of stuff in the UFC as it will look too much like WWE and Dana isn't having that.

In a year or two - the sting will be gone and we'll be happy to see all of these big match ups we previously would have NEVER been able to see.

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You hit the nail right on the head. MMA is much more accepted in Japan, so Pride didn't have to tip toe the line like the UFC does.

I'll admit, I'm sad to see it go but on the bright side many of the key fighters are already fighting in the UFC as DragOn mentioned.

It will take a while for the Pride guys to feel at home with altered rules and a different fighting environment (ie the cage, US fans, etc) but in due time it will all come together and I think this is a better transition than to have Pride simply implode overseas and suddenly have a bunch of free agents floating around for a year.

The UFC buying pride must have been the greatest day ever for hardcore pride fans. They finally had a scapegoat to blame for pride's collapse instead of having to admit that it was driven into the ground by DSE.

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It was, but there was still chances of resurrecting, as well as other people who could have bought it and put effort into saving the company.

Regardless of what anyone says, Pride will forever have the crown of the best MMA org in the world. It held by far the best cards, by far the best presentation, respectful crowds and fighters not affraid to lose.

I will always remember Pride, if not for Pride I wouldnt be watching MMA.

Pride events were 10x better than UFC. Mainly because they showed 6-8 fights, and didn't stop to talk with some celebrity or to show commercials during a fucking PPV event. I don't mind listening to the announcers talk, but why do we have to skip to Rogan and Goldberg and watch them talk to each other while nothing happens? Have that whole conversation during the fighter entrance. Little things like that count.

The whole thing just looked more proffesional. The ring, the lighting, the respecful audience etc. Honestly I think simply getting rid of the cage and putting in a ring would change a lot of fan perception of the sport and look much better.

Pride events were 10x better than UFC. Mainly because they showed 6-8 fights, and didn't stop to talk with some celebrity or to show commercials during a fucking PPV event. I don't mind listening to the announcers talk, but why do we have to skip to Rogan and Goldberg and watch them talk to each other while nothing happens? Have that whole conversation during the fighter entrance. Little things like that count.

The whole thing just looked more proffesional. The ring, the lighting, the respecful audience etc. Honestly I think simply getting rid of the cage and putting in a ring would change a lot of fan perception of the sport and look much better.

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Agree 100%.

That and Pride allowed stunts like headstomps and knees to the face.

But yeah I do understand this is supposed to be a "safe" sport, especially in the USA where everything is monitored by the feds so closely.

The only reason I bought the last UFC was because I wanted to support Randy (well, that and my stream was a bit slow). I stopped buying UFC PPV's because I honestly felt cheated by all the chit chat and ads. Its so presumptious to think I am actually interested in listening to some douchebag awkwardly promote his movie to Joe Rogan and try to provide a stupid soundbite. And they act as if that shit is supposed to interest me.

With Pride there was a kind of hustle to get the ring cleared and get the new fighters in the next match started. They knew why people were watching and I appreciated the effort they put in to keep me interested. They didn't pretend that I was there for anything else except for the fights and I felt like I got what I was paying for.

I sorta think that the precursor to Pride's demise was the shows that they staged in the US. There was no way in hell they could have turned a profit in that venture. They were dead before they set foot in the US. It's sad, but i have confidence that Dana White/Fertittas will make a better product out of it.

Seriously though, I'm not sure I'd like to see a Zuffa bastardized version of PRIDE anyway. I've always been a HUGE fan of both the UFC and PRIDE... but I loved how PRIDE was able to truly make events/fights feel EPIC.